Media & Public Relations

“The History of Wine” topic of Binghamton University conference

2009-04-22

BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University’s Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CEMERS) will host a conference titled “In Vino Veritas: A Symposium on Wine and the Influence of Bacchus from Classical Antiquity through the Eighteenth Century,” on April 24 and 25.

The conference will feature 22 speakers with expertise ranging from the production, shipping and marketing of wine; ancient, medieval and Renaissance varietals; symbolic and ritual uses of wine in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic contexts; Bacchus, the God of wine; medicinal uses of wine; the exchange of wine as diplomatic gifts; wine in tavern culture and wine at court.

A champagne flight ($20) will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, April 24, at the Kilmer Brasserie in downtown Binghamton. This event will be followed by a banquet ($45) at 8:30 p.m. featuring specialty wines from France.

At 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, a complimentary tasting of premier Finger Lakes wines will take place in the Grand Corridor of the Fine Arts Building. This event is limited to conference registrants. A closing banquet ($45) will take place at 8 p.m. in the Anderson Center Reception Room and feature leading New York and California wines. The banquet will also include a tribute to wine through poetry and song, including the reading of original verse by Professor Emeritus Martin Bidney and a performance by members of the Binghamton Baroque Ensemble of music by the seventeenth-century English composer Henry Purcell.

The conference is open to the public and free to all Binghamton University students, faculty and staff. Registration for the general public is $75 for full attendance, and $30 for half-day attendance.

For a full program and registration forms, visit cemers.binghamton.edu. To reserve a seat for the banquets, call (607) 777-2730 or e-mail bknight@binghamton.edu